BACKGROUND: Responses to immune perturbations can vary greatly when comparing geographical regions such Europe versus South East Asia but also when comparing urban versus rural areas within a country. This can translate into differences in disease profiles or in responses to vaccines. However, even within an urban area, large differences in income settings can be seen. Therefore, it is also important to assess whether differences observed when comparing rural and urban residents can also be detected between high and low socioeconomic status (SES) within an urban center. AIM: To examine the immune profile of children of high versus low SES METHODS: Using mass cytometry, we profiled immune cells in finger-prick blood samples of children attending high and low SES schools in Makassar, Indonesia. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in the immune profiles of children from low versus high SES. Increased frequencies of entire and CD11c+ B cells, CD161+ T helper 2 cells and CTLA-4+ Tregs and HLA-DRdimCD163+ monocytes were seen in low SES children, whereas a trend towards expansion of T helper 1 cells was observed in the high SES group. CONCLUSION: Although differences in the immune system of populations living in rural versus urban areas have been documented, this study shows that within an urban center, the socioeconomic status can have a significant impact on the immune system of children. Such differences might contribute to variation seen in immune reactivity to allergens, autoantigens or vaccines, therefore SES should be factored in when studying responses to immune perturbations.